New complex for disabled already full

TOWN OF WALLKILL — A housing development built to be accessible to people with special needs is full now.

BY NATHAN BROWN

TOWN OF WALLKILL — A housing development built to be accessible to people with special needs is full now.

The last tenants at Sunrise Gardens, which is located on Fortune Road West, moved in about a month and a half ago, said Patti Archiere, spokeswoman for Occupations Inc., a local group that provides services to the disabled.

They're planning to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Wednesday; speakers will include Darryl Towns, commissioner of the state office of Homes and Community Renewal, which helped fund the project.

The project was financed via low-interest government loans and tax credits.

The 78 apartments are designed to be accessible to people with disabilities: They feature low counters and light switches, bathrooms and halls wide enough for wheelchairs. About a third of the residents are people with special needs.

Developer Jonah Mandelbaum built the complex. Occupations and Mandelbaum are building a second, identical development on East Main Street. One of the buildings there should be done and occupied by the end of December, and the other two should be completed next spring, said Jim DeStefano, president of Occupations.

Mandelbaum plans to donate both developments to Occupations.

DeStefano said he is proud of the development and its spacious, modern feel. The complex is full and the residents are thrilled with it, he said. He said they hope to build more, similar developments in the future.

"All of the reasons why we did this have been validated," he said.

Renee Keys has been an Occupations client for 20 years. She heard about the new apartments from Occupations, and moved in there on Feb. 1, from her old place on Route 17M, north of Middletown.

She said she's happier at Sunrise Gardens.

"It's a very nice place to live in," she said. "It's safe. The people are nice. I get along well with everybody."